Sweethearts
by midnightmarina
Summary: Nico needs to tell Percy something. Rated K. Fluffy! Slash! Percico/Pernico (Percy/Nico)


**Disclaimer: I'm not Rick Riordan, so I don't own PJO/HoO or any of the characters.**

**Warning: This contains slash! If you don't like that sort of thing, then, well, ****_don't read it._**

* * *

"Nico, you know that you're going to have to tell him eventually," Jason pointed out to Nico, running a hand through his short blonde hair in frustration. He'd said this in so many different ways, so many different times before. "So why not _now?_"

Deep down, no matter how much he hated to admit it, Nico di Angelo knew that his friend was right, and about more than a few things, too— as Percy and Annabeth had broken up a little over a month ago, the time to confess his feelings towards Percy was now. The pale teen bit down on his lower lip. "I know, Jason, but..." He sighed, putting his head in his hands before continuing. "I don't know why I've waited so long to tell him; it's just—"

"Just... what?" Jason interrupted. "Look, man, I know that you're afraid of having Percy hate you, but... well, just trust me when I say that _he isn't going to._"

Nico lowered his hands. "Fine," he said miserably, fishing a golden drachma out from the front pocket of his black jeans. "Just... give me a few minutes alone, will you?"

Jason's lips stretched into a wistful, encouraging smile. "Okay," he said, knowing that it was more a command than a favour, and with that he left Nico's room in cabin thirteen.

Nico took a deep breath, pulled out his Stygian iron sword, and suddenly slashed at the sink faucet. Water began to spray out of the now-broken pipe, a rainbow forming in the mist. Nico tossed the drachma into the rainbow unceremoniously and said, "Percy Jackson, Upper East Side, Manhattan." Percy was visiting his mother, Sally, at her apartment for the weekend.

Percy's face appeared in the mist shortly after Nico had said the boy's name and address.

"Hey!" Percy smiled at the son of Hades. He had a bit of blue frosting at the corner of his mouth, which Nico wasn't ashamed to find adorable.

"H-hi," Nico stammered in response. Just seeing Percy there, knowing what he had to admit to him, was enough to turn him into a babbling, stuttering idiot. He shook his head marginally, as if to clear it. Not one for small talk, he got straight to the point. "Uh... so, I was thinking that, maybe, we could... uh... go to a coffee shop, or something, tomorrow? I... I sort of need to tell you something—something that, honestly, I probably should've told you a _long_ time ago. And... well, I need to tell you in person," he hastily finished.

Percy, still smiling thoughtfully, replied, "Sure! I'd lo—I'd like to. But, um, what time? And... where?"

Nico was sure that he was imagining it, but he thought that Percy was, ever so slightly, blushing. "Um... Like, one o'clock at... uh, what was the name of that coffee shop next to that comic book store that you took me to before?"

Percy grinned mischievously. "I assume that you mean _Sweethearts_?"

Nico blushed and nodded furiously; Percy chuckled. "So... see you then, I guess?" Percy said awkwardly.

"Uh... Yeah," said Nico, who was still vaguely pink, and with that said, he waved his hand through the mist of which Percy's face was comprised of, ending the IM with him.

This, Nico knew, was going to be _awkward._

The next day, Nico arrived at the coffee shop—_Sweethearts_—roughly an hour early, and by the gods, was he ever nervous. The ghost king's right knee bounced up and down, up and down, anxiously. The waitress, a teenage girl not much older than Nico, who by now was fifteen, with sandy blonde hair and a blithesome smile, seemed to sense Nico's nervous aura, and secretly slipped his a free chocolate chip cookie—Nico's favourite—that was still, surprisingly, warm, along with the black coffee that Nico had ordered. Nico smiled genuinely at the girl, thanking her profusely, and in return she gave him a sympathetically understanding smile.

Half an hour later—which was still half an hour early—, Percy arrived. He spotted Nico easily from across the café, flashing smile at the younger demigod, and strode over to the booth of which the son of Hades was sitting at. "Hi," the older raven-haired male greeted with a quick flash of white teeth.

"Um... hey," Nico replied. His cheeks tinged pink as Percy slipped into the seat across from him. "So—uh, about that thing that I needed to tell you about," Nico began. After looking down, gulping, and looking back up, he continued. "Y-you see, I... I needed to tell you that I—_I kind of maybe have a crush on you and I thought that I should tell you._" He said the last part super fast, and Nico was now full-on blushing, the tips of his ears and cheeks red.

But Percy just smirked and said, much to Nico's embarrassment, "I knew that already. I mean, I may be an oblivious idiot sometimes; but you aren't exactly the greatest at hiding your infatuations, you know."

"Wha—?" Nico began, but his voice faltered as Percy reached over and took Nico's hand, which just so happened to be innocently resting halfway across the table.

"Next time," Percy said, still smirking knowingly, "pick a better place for our date." And, with that, Percy leaned across the table to plant a kiss on the lips of a _very_ flustered Nico di Angelo.


End file.
